‘I Give It A Year’ is Not Your Average Romantic Comedy
Boy meets Girl + They fall in love= Happily ever after. This is the formula for many romantic comedies, but when the screenwriter's past work includes "Borat" and "Bruno," you know this is not going to be your average rom-com.
Boy meets Girl + They fall in love + They get married= Happily ever after. This is the formula many romantic comedies use when writing a screenplay, and for the most part it works. But when the screenwriter’s past work includes Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and Bruno, you know this is not going to be your average romantic comedy.
I Give It A Year tells the story of Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall), a newlywed couple who are beginning their transition into married life. What starts out as a promising future quickly goes downhill. The couple lives in London: Nat works at a PR agency and Josh is a freelance writer. A wandering eye from Nat leads to romantic love interest Guy (Simon Baker), her American client who also shows signs of liking her. While Nat spends her days removing her wedding ring to work (read: flirt) alongside Guy, Josh works (read: hangs out) with his friend, and ex-girlfriend, Chloe (Anna Faris).
Clearly a struggle between thinking with one’s heart vs. one’s head, Nat and Josh both agree to try to make their marriage last for one more year. While working on their relationship, the humor comes into play in the way these characters are so obviously in love with another person. In a failed attempt, Guy tries seducing Nat during a business meeting by filling the conference room with white doves and a single violinist. The doves poop on her blouse, and while she is upset on the surface, it’s obvious that she wishes she could just rip off her blouse off and jump his bones.
We all saw it coming, but it still makes for a laugh or two.
Meanwhile, Josh takes Chloe with him to get a girl’s perspective on a set of lingerie he is planning to buy for Nat. The awkwardness that ensues is classic; Chloe tries on a sexy pink and orange lace set and Josh can’t help but stare at her boobs. We all saw it coming, but it still makes for a laugh or two.
I Give It A Year is a very mainstream film for director Dan Mazer, which was his intention. “I wanted to do something that was a bit more mainstream and yet which still had the ability to be edgy and a bit shocking,” he says. “I am getting older… there comes a point where you don’t want to be shocking for shocking’s sake. Funny is funny.” While I agree with Mazer’s logic, I can’t quite commit to saying this film is a comedic milestone. It does push the envelope at times- Anna Faris’s threesome sex scene was completely awkward and one of the best scenes in the film. The ending seemed to be a varied version of that “Happily Ever After,” but unique in it’s own way. I Give It A Year may not be that “summer fun for the whole family” type of movie, but if you’re looking to break the ice on a first date, I’d say it’s the perfect film.
